Birth Of the Marauders
by Bonne Jenet
Summary: Humor AND tragedy? No, I'm not out of my mind...Ever wandered how the Marauders thought of that glorious map? How they found those passsages? How Remus seems to have no family? Here's my version...R&R needed desperatly!
1. The first elusive chapter of No name!

Disclaimer: Thanks to the bad vibe surrounding the fine art of kidnapping, I do not own Harry Potter. Why would you think so? Is it because my talent matches J.k. Rowling's? No? Well, damn you then... Before you read: This is a weird layout for a story. I wanted it to be a short story, thus made the chapters short. Sorry! Chapter One.  
  
A sudden snort was the first tell-tale sign that someone was awake. They sat up from the duvet they had been entangled in, shook their head sleepily and crossed to the window. It was still dark. He reached out and flung open the window, shivering as the snow outside got whirled onto his bare chest. Someone else yelped. "Hey! Close the window!" squeaked Peter Pettigrew, ducking his head beneath his pillow. Sirius stretched and grinned, his eyes settling on the hulk of blankets that was James Potter. "Oh, hello Lily!" said Sirius loudly in James' ear. James sat bolt upright, his hand flying to his hair and hitting Sirius in the process. "Bloody hell, James!" growled Sirius, rubbing his nose. James rolled his eyes and stepped over Sirius to close the window, Peter in silent fits of laughter. It was Christmas Day and yet again, Remus was the first one up. Sirius, James and Peter grabbed their presents from the foot of their beds and went down to the common room. Infront of the fire, munching on what looked like fruitcake, was Remus. He was pale, with dark circles beneath his eyes, but he had some of his colour back; full moon wasn't for another two days. "'Lo," he said cheerily as everyone found seats near to the fire, "Sirius, do you really have to walk around like that?" Sirius shrugged and folded his arms across his chest huffily. "Merry Christmas guys!" Everyone spread their gifts among each other, as was their tradition, which started when James and Peter realised that they were the only ones getting more than two presents. Remus opened his first and looked at the card. "Pete, this is from you mum. She says that this was your dad's idea, not hers...oh. It's a model car..." "He's trying to make me into a "proper man"," replied Peter resentfully, and then tore his one open, "I got one from someone called Annabelle." Sirius yelped and snatched the present, half unwrapped, from Peter, who was looking very sly. Remus cocked an eyebrow. Sirius, who was attempting to cover up whatever was inside the present, looked innocent, "What?" he asked. James laughed. "Who's Annabelle?" Something cracked beneath Sirius' weight. He sighed and shook his head. Everyone laughed. Sirius' late-night escapades were well known to the others, though Sirius modestly always tried to deny it. They continued to open presents and swap them for others until the sun was well up and the smell of breakfast alerted their stomachs. James was the first to go up and get dressed, soon followed by Peter. Sirius got up, Remus didn't move, but stared transfixed into the fire. "Don't tell me that fruitcake filled you up?" joked Sirius, waving a hand infront of his friends weary face. Remus smiled. "Don't feel like eating. Go on! Annabelle might be waiting for y-ouch!" Sirius had punched Remus in the knee. He gave his friend a nasty grin, grabbed the remains of Annabelle's present and went upstairs. Remus returned to staring into the fire, his shoulders sagging beneath the weight he carried around all by himself every time his friends left the room... 


	2. SurprisinglyCHAPTER TWO!

Chapter 2  
  
"Snivellus!" "Oh, go away..." "Come on, mate!" Snape flinched at the hand on his shoulder. He looked out the corner of his eye and caught a flash of long, dark hair. Sirius Black. At least it wasn't James. "Where's Potter?" Severus said, shaking the hand off. Sirius fell into step with him, his easy strides easily matching Severus' gait. It was snowing, heavily, and both of the lonely figures crossing the empty Hogwarts grounds were swathed in their heavy fifth year cloaks, though Severus' had a few more burn holes. The snow was almost knee high, but both Sirius and Severus were used to the heavy snows which came with the Christmas holidays. "James?" said Sirius as they neared the Forbidden Forest, "Oh, probably trying to get Lily to forgive him for another thing." "That's nice," replied Severus, "Now, go away." But instead of the sickeningly friendly come back that was expected, Sirius slapped Severus on the shoulder and said, "Alright. See you later!" But he didn't walk away; Severus did, heading for the Quidditch Pitch. When he was but a dwindling black figure in a whirl of snow, Sirius frowned deeply and motioned to something over his shoulder, still staring intently at Severus' figure. Out of the shelter of the groundskeepers hut came four figures. In the lead came Madame Pomfrey, followed by Remus, who was stooped slightly, then came James, the only one with his hood down, his hand resting on Remus' shoulder. Last came Peter, carrying a backpack which always contained the same things: food, water, first aid kit, their wands and a few other things to keep them occupied until it happened. Once Peter passed, Sirius looked warily around and followed the silent band of people, Madame Pomfrey still striding along in front. "Who was that?" whispered Peter. "Snape," replied Sirius, pulling his hood closer as a wind threatened to reveal them to prying eyes, "Had to get rid of him, you know what he's like, the bloody git." Peter grinned but it disappeared as the whooshing and groaning of the Whomping Willow came into view. Madame Pomfrey picked up a long stick, slid it through the branches and placed it on a bulging knot near a hole at the base of the tree. The limbs froze and Madame Pomfrey ushered Remus through, handing him the backpack. He gave his friends the thumbs up, then was gone through the hole. Madame Pomfrey heaved a sigh, then let go of the stick she was holding. "That boy is very brave," she said, looking sad, "He is very lucky to have friends like you. Come on then, back to the castle." She began to move off. "Madame Pomfrey?" said Sirius in his nicest tone. "Yes dear?" "Well, James and I have Quidditch practice." "And I'm going to watch," piped up Peter. Madame Pomfrey looked worried, but then shrugged. "Well, if you must go...but don't wander off afterwards, do you understand? Come straight back to the castle!" "We will," lied Sirius, flashing his toothy grin. Madame Pomfrey smiled and looked up at the moon. It was full and illuminated her face. It was creased with worry. She shook her head, and went back to the castle. James' face fell as he turned to pick up the stick. "Do you really think this is safe James?" squeaked Peter as the tree limbs froze again. "He's our mate, Pete," growled Sirius, pushing Peter through the hole and jumping in after him. "Yes, but won't he be angry at us?" whispered Peter as they crouched along the tunnel. No one answered. No one had thought that Remus might be angry with them for spying on him. They had known for some time that he was a werewolf, and when they found out, they (well, James and Sirius anyway) sort of felt left out of some adventure that Remus was having. But it was more the sense of a challenge and danger that drove them to the library, to study for hours and hours without Remus' knowing and to finally get what they wanted. It was...very satisfying. "Can't we do it now James?" asked Sirius, rubbing a bump on his head. "No, Remus won't have transformed yet. He's on the edge as it is, mate," replied James. They walked on in silence, the occasional yelps and chuckles piercing the quiet. Then James, who was in the lead, said, "Dead end. This must be it." There was a grunt of effort as James heaved at the ceiling with his hands. There was a shower of dirt, and then faint moonlight flooded in. James lifted himself through, stuck a hand down, helped Peter up then shuffled back as Sirius swung him through. The room they were in was in tatters. The wall paper, though it was already mouldy, was torn in places, and the little furniture in the room was smashed. Sirius sniffed and almost sneezed, but caught himself and whispered, "Doesn't this look familiar?" James pointed to the one window of the room. It was grimy, but had a small pane missing from it. Outside, it was snowing, and down the hill, were the numerous lights of Hogsmeade. "This is the Shrieking Shack," hissed Peter fearfully, stumbling backwards. James' hand shot out to steady his friend, but missed, and Peter fell onto a sofa, which splintered and shattered under his weight. The sound reverberated throughout the house and in the three's bones. When all was quiet once more, Sirius and James lifted Peter from the debris without much noise. "Are you alright, Pete?" whispered James. Peter nodded, hanging his head. James closed the trap door they had come through and it disappeared through the dust once more. "Be careful, Sirius!" breathed Peter as Sirius poked his head in a cupboard, "This place has violent ghosts!" Sirius snorted. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" he said wiping of a smear of dust on his nose, "It was Remus who did all this and howled in the night." "Oh..." "What was that?" said James suddenly, freezing on his inspection of a vase. Everyone went still. From above their heads, came a faint scuffling. It rose to a scraping. Then, an ear piercing scream split through the eerie silence. The scream went on, until it became deeper, more feral. Then abruptly it stopped. Four footfalls could be heard, crossing the room, the creak of a worn threshold. Everyone's eyes went to the deep, dark doorway. Hearts thudded against Adams apples. Heavy, laboured breathing came closer, the scrape of long claws on wood and carpet. "Now!" came a voice. The breathing neared. Two amber eyes observed where three boys had been, but were no more... 


	3. Yup yup More Marauders!

Chapter 3  
  
Remus looked very ill. He had a bandage around his head and his light blonde hair was caked in blood. But his eyes, though shadowed and bloodshot, were animate and alert and Madame Pomfrey smiled down at him. "You have a visitor dear," she said cheerily, and went away to her office. Remus turned his head to the door as it opened. Someone walked in with heavy boots on, a pile of books, parchments, quills and ink wells in their arms. Sirius dropped them on the empty bed beside Remus' and sat beside them, looking at the floor. "I'm sorry Remus," he mumbled, not meeting his friends eye. "I know you are. You should have told me though, I could have really hurt one of you." Sirius' head snapped up. He had a few cuts and bruises, as he himself had only gotten out of Madame Pomfreys clutches yesterday. "You should have told us, Remus!" he snapped. Remus looked hurt. "Would you have believed me?" he said angrily, but then realised his mistake. Of course they would have, he thought, I was in a right state all the time. "Sorry," said the friends in unison. Sirius laughed, but Remus winced; his ribs still hurt. Sirius motioned to the pile of books. "That's all the homework you wanted. James has more for you but he's getting the team riled up for the Quidditch match this Saturday." "It's still on then?" asked Remus, surprised because the team captain and seeker (James) and the teams best Keeper (Sirius) were still in some amount of pain and a Quidditch match definitely wouldn't help them. Sirius grinned. "Professor McGonagall was getting desperate. James said he'd throw himself off the Astronomy tower if he let the team down, so, as usual, I got sucked in." Remus smiled. "Where's Peter?" he asked, flicking through a DADA book. Sirius sighed. "Still in his room. Terrified." Remus looked up. So he had really done some harm... He had transformed, as usual. Everything seemed alright, apart from the whole animal/human thing, until his enhanced senses smelled fear, heard voices, tasted human. He had stalked downstairs, expecting to find some easy prey, but instead had found the weirdest thing. A growling dog, hackles raised, teeth bared. A magnificent stag, head tilted down, pawing at the floor. And a fat rat, dusty and cowering behind the dog and stag. Remus remembered lunging out at the animals invading his territory, going for the stags fragile legs. He had connected, but the large dog had lunged at him, throwing its weight into Remus and slamming him into the empty fireplace. He was knocked out apparently. But the animal James, Sirius and Peter had made Remus as comfortable as they could, waited until he had become human again, and then ran back, as humans themselves, to tell Madame Pomfrey that Remus hadn't come back yet. Sirius had did nothing but apologise for three days for hurting Remus so badly, but Remus had told him not to worry, he was only protecting his friends. Now, Sirius saw the haunted look in his friend's eyes, which had increased from that night. The two friends sat in silence, listening to the students in the corridors bustling about in the new term. Both of them felt not the weight of more secret keeping, but the long awaited prospect of a new challenge for the four friends, a new adventure all their own. "Same time next full moon then?" asked Sirius, grinning and running a hand through his hair. Remus looked worried, but then he grinned lopsidedly. "Yes. Next full moon it is then!" 


End file.
